Report on St. Paul convention arrests due this week

Last summer’s Republican National Convention is just a memory in St. Paul now, but the controversy surrounding the overwhelming police presence and resulting mass arrests of protesters and journalists lives on. The St. Paul Ad-Hoc RNC Investigating Commission is expected to submit its final report to the City Council this Wednesday, although it is unknown if it will settle the issues or even be made publicly available.

The Reporters Committee had established a reporter’s hotline during the convention, as we have at every Republican and Democratic political convention since 1972. The St. Paul hotline was manned by attorneys Paul Hannah of Kelly & Berens and Bill Tilton and George Dunn of Tilton & Dunn.

Tilton witnessed many of the controversial moves by federal and state law enforcement officials, and has submitted comments based on those experiences to the commission. We’ve collected those comments and supporting material here, including: Tilton’s cover letter to his comments; the comments themselves; Tilton’s report, "Loitering with Intent to Jaywalk"; a list of attachments to his comments; a description of the videos he submitted; and the court decision on the planned protests that preceded the convention.